


Choke Him Like You Don't Hate Him

by olsonrocco



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, corpsekkuno
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27871933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olsonrocco/pseuds/olsonrocco
Summary: Sykkuno tells Corpse what he ACTUALLY said to Leslie when he threatened to kill her as impostor.
Relationships: Corpse Husband & Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF), Corpse Husband/Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 94
Kudos: 1546





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first Corpsekkuno fic and I hope you like it!!! Some things: It's okay to ship privately, but please don't throw the ship into their faces if they've said they're uncomfortable with it! Also just to be clear, this fic is shipping the personas of Corpse and Sykkuno and I am in no way insinuating that they have romantic feelings or anything. 
> 
> Anywayssss, I hope you enjoy! Comments and kudos's (kudoses or kudoss or kudos' or kudoss' ?? I'm confused idk lol) are appreciated if you liked it! ENJOY!!! <3

“Let me explain guys. I lured her into a corner and pretended to threaten her as a killer but I'm not the killer,” Sykkuno clarified.

“Wait Sykkuno threatened somebody?” Corpse asked disbelievingly. 

“Well like as a meme cuz obviously I couldn’t-” Sykkuno explained over the incredulous chatter.

“Wait can you do that to me next round?” Corpse asked without thinking. “I wanna hear it.”

“Oh-” “What” “Oh okay” Various group members commented.

“Guys, guys, I just wanna hear what he sounds like when he’s mad, that’s all,” Corpse defended himself. Well, it was true. All he did WAS want to hear what Sykkuno sounded like when he was mad. Because Sykkuno was 100% soft and if that already drove Corpse crazy, hearing Sykkuno mad would be enough to make him go clinically insane. No disrespect to those who were, of course- Corpse had his own issues with mental health and wasn’t afraid to talk about them. 

“You what?” Sykkuno asked, voice taking on the tone that Corpse knew meant he was either confused or flustered. Probably both. 

“Don’t make this weird, guys,” Corpse internally groaned, voice coming out more frustrated as he would have liked. It only made him seem more sus. Honestly, Corpse didn’t really care about the teasing. He was only saying this shit so that Sykkuno wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

“I just- I have- Have you guys ever heard Sykkuno cuss before? I haven’t and I want to hear it,” Corpse continued. 

“I’ve been trying to get Sykkuno to say one swear word-”

“Corpse, are you trying to say you want me to choke you?” Sykkuno’s voice rang out loud and clear and Corpse wouldn’t have been dramatic if he said his heart stopped right then and there.

He immediately burst out into laughter, concealing his pounding heart with the low chuckle. 

“Cause the song, the song, the song, right? The song!” Sykkuno quickly justified.

“Choke him like you hate him? Is that how you’re gonna choke him?” 

“Nooooo,” Corpse groaned, smile clear in his voice. 

“Was that a good one?” Sykkuno asked self-consciously. “Wait, I’m sorry I thought it would make you laugh!” He quickly continued, embarrassment showing. 

“You have to sing it now!” BrookeAB pleaded. Everyone was finding this spectacle to be quite entertaining, and Corpse watched with a large grin and one eye squinted from his smile (the other eye behind a mask of course). 

“Ohh god,” he breathed out, taking a moment to calm down after hearing the _dirty, dirty_ words coming out of innocent (or so he thought) Sykkuno’s mouth. 

“Sykkuno, you know the words! Choke me like you hate me but you love me!” Rae chanted as encouragement to Sykkuno. 

There was more chatter about the _next_ lyric, which was a little less appropriate. Although to Corpse it seemed like they had already thrown “appropriate” out the window. 

“Sykkuno wants to kill me apparently,” Corpse joked. 

“No, Sykkuno wants to choke you,” Rae corrected. 

“No, no I don’t, I’m not the killer, I’m not the killer,” Sykkuno hastily reassured. 

“I wanted to hear what he sounds like mad,” Corpse repeated. 

“I’m just here to watch Sykkuno choke Corpse, when does that show start?” Ludwig questioned. 

Um, definitely in Corpse’s dreams tonight. But he didn’t say that. 

“I think I’ve looked that up on a website before,” Courage piped in. It was funny how everyone was saying this shit in such serious voices, and if Corpse didn’t know them, he almost would have thought that they were serious. Although kinky bastards, he couldn’t blame them. 

“I think we’re both innocent now, I feel like we’re both innocent,” Sykkuno said as the lights went out. 

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t think he would say that if he was actually the impostor. Like he wouldn’t just say he can kill me like that.”

Soon enough, a body was reported and it was time to vote. “Orange Sykkuno is a different man,” Corpse remarked. Funny how he said that literally every time Sykkuno wasn’t his usual dark green. But it was true, something about Sykkuno today _was_ different. He was a lot bolder. He’d also stayed around Corpse for a lot of the stream today, which Corpse wasn’t unhappy about. He liked being able to hear the other streamer’s voice. 

***

“Sykkuno, what did you say that was so threatening? I gotta know,” Corpse admitted, trying not to sound too curious but obviously failing. 

“Oh nothing, I was just gonna- I said, uh- what’d I say?” Sykkuno sounded confused. Either he actually forgot or was just embarrassed and was pretending that he’d forgotten to avoid talking about it with Corpse. Corpse kinda thought it was the second. 

“That’s- that’s what I wanted to know originally.”

“I just said I would kill her if I was there. Because no one would find the body.”

Corpse was silent for a moment, trying to figure out a response.

“Oh, you wanna see where it was? We can, um… it’s a good hiding spot!” Sykkuno continued. 

“Uh, oh...alright.”

“It’s up this way.”

“That’s- that’s all you said to her? I thought you said some like, really… worse things,” Corpse responded. He wasn’t gonna lie, he _really_ wanted to know what Sykkuno had said to threaten Leslie, and he wasn’t sure that if the older streamer was telling the truth. 

“Ummm-- it’s behind this thingy over here.”

Corpse knew that Sykkuno was avoiding the question. He may have dropped out of school but that didn’t mean he was stupid. Even if Sykkuno told him the biggest lie of all time, Corpse would still follow him everywhere like the huge-ass simp he is. Only for Sykkuno though. 

Once they were both behind the pole thing, both kinda stood there for a second. Until Sykkuno whispered “Corpse?”

Corpse immediately replied with a breathy “Yeah?”

“Umm, I needed a secret spot to do this, but we’re here now, so I’ll tell you what I actually said.”

Corpse’s heart may have skipped a beat and then started beating erratically fast, and he swallowed. “Oh. Um, okay, cool. Yeah, cool.”

“I said,” Sykkuno started, then lowered his voice, “I could kill you right now. I could press the little ‘kill’ button that’s appearing on my screen right now, if I wanted to. But I’m feeling nice today, so I’ll spare you.”

 _FUCK._ Corpse’s breath hitched in his throat. Sykkuno’s normal voice was cute, but this lowered, deeper voice paired with those words was _hot_. His and Sykkuno’s orange and black among us avatars standing directly on top of each other against a barrier had already been enough to get him all hot and bothered, but fuck that, now he wanted the real thing. 

“So yeah, that’s what I said,” Sykkuno laughed, normal voice returning.

Oh my god, the duality of this man almost made Corpse want to chuckle. How someone could be so pure one second and then… like _that_ the next was astonishing and completely unfair. Was he _trying_ to kill Corpse?

“Wow. Oh my- wow. Sykkuno, I’m a little jealous you actually said that to Leslie and not me,” Corpse breathed, trying to pass the statement off as a joke. (It actually wasn’t).

“Oh, don’t worry Corpse. I was thinking about you the whole time. ‘Choke me like you hate me’ and all that, right?”

Corpse almost choked (no pun intended, is that even a pun, idk, but it’s a joke so laugh please) on his own spit at that. Oh my god, Sykkuno COULD NOT just say things like that. 

“Jesus christ,” Corpse said, not even thinking. 

“Oh, I’m sorry Corpse, did I make you uncomfortable? I really didn’t actually want to threaten you,” Sykkuno quickly apologized.

“No, no Sykkuno. I… I liked it. A lot. Too much, actually,” Corpse admitted quietly. Truth be told, he hadn’t expected to say that. To say so much. But he did and now Sykkuno was silent and Corpse felt weirdly weightless. In a good and a bad way- good that he finally kinda got his feelings off of his chest, but bad in a way that he doesn’t know whether Sykkuno is going to react well or horribly. 

“Oh, um. I- I like your voice too, Corpse. Do- do you think we could… maybe, um, do a private discord voice call after the stream?” Sykkuno asked hesitantly. 

“Yeah, Sykkuno. Let’s do it,” Corpse said, and even he could hear the smile in his voice. 


	2. He pull me in like a lasso

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discord voice call (and maybe with cameras too ;) ) embarrassment, accidental friend-zoning, the works

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a little while! Also the title of the chapter is from another lyric of E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE!

Sykkuno took a deep breath before clicking the “call” button for Corpse. 

“Uh, hey Corpse!” Sykkuno exclaimed. This was his typical greeting. Anyone else may have thought that it meant that Sykkuno was totally comfortable and not nervous, but Corpse knew him well enough to know that wasn’t the case. Sykkuno was more complex than the chat seemed to think, harder to read. He could hide his feelings behind his words. 

“He- hey, Sykkuno,” Corpse responded. His feelings also were masked behind the deepness and roughness of his voice, but he was unable to stop the quickness of his response, like he had been doing nothing but _waiting_ to hear those words. It was true, though.

“So, Corpse, how are you doing?” Sykkuno asked after a short pause. 

“Well, in the last like, uh, 5 minutes since we spoke, I kinda did nothing,” Corpse chuckled. 

“Oh, uh. Right it’s only been 5 minu- sorry, that was stupid of me to ask, sorry,” Sykkuno apologized fervently, and although the boy’s camera was off, Corpse just _knew_ that his pretty face was blushing. He liked the thought of that.

“No, no, don’t apologize.” He smiled to himself. It was so adorable when the older streamer got flushed and audibly nervous. It seemed to happen a lot around him. 

There was a brief but not uncomfortable silence, and then Sykkuno began to say something, but Corpse accidentally cut him off.

“So-”

“Um can you- oh sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt-”

“No, no, go ahead it wasn’t important...What were you going to say, Corpse?”

“Um...will you turn your camera on? I- I know that’s shitty of me to ask, ‘cause I obviously can’t do the same, but… I want to see you,” Corpse breathed, biting his lip at the bold request.

Sykkuno sucked in a breath. “Um, o-okay?”

He turned on his camera, and a shy smile spread across his face, causing Corpse to mute so he could let out a small giggle at the cuteness of the other guy. 

“Uh, I’m a boy not a girl, but I, uh, can put on some cat ears too, if you want,” Sykkuno offered, shaky voice betraying his nervousness.

“Oh, sure, yeah, that’d be cool,” Corpse said immediately , sounding indifferent, although inside he was feeling quite the opposite. “Only if you want to though,” he rushed to explain, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t TOTALLY into it and that was honestly the thing he wanted most in life at that moment.

Sykkuno put the cat ears on and Corpse almost died. He whispered “Fuck,” and only realized he forgot to mute himself after the prettiest blush crossed Sykkuno’s cheeks, who blinked repeatedly out of shock.

“Sorry-” Corpse started, completely embarrassed with himself.

“No, no it’s fine,” Sykkuno responded, clearing his throat. “Um anyways, so uh, you said you like that cat right? During the stream. What was it called?... Bingus?”

A laugh caught in Corpse’s throat. It was so funny hearing Sykkuno talk about this stuff. 

Sykkuno continued. “And Brooke said it was a naked cat… so does that mean binguses are ruining your life? Ya know, cause of your song cat girls are ruining your life? And well, naked cat girls probably ruin your life even more,” he chuckled.

Corpse immediately started giggling, the laugh becoming a wheeze deep in his throat at hearing those words come out of Sykkuno’s mouth.

“Um, uh, not in a weird way! No, like a normal way haha,” Sykkuno quickly backtracked.

“Sykkuno… sy-kkuno,” Corpse said in that deep voice of his once he calmed down.

Sykkuno turned even redder. 

“Well, Bingus is a boy, so if your theory is correct, I suppose that would mean that cat BOYS are actually ruining my life,” Corpse said. He said it completely innocently, but Sykkuno could tell that it was a pointed statement because after hearing it, his hand flew up to the cat ears headband in his hair and he let out a squeak, an actual _squeak_.

Sykkuno coughed to try to hide his obvious surprise and embarrassment (spoiler alert, it didn’t work), but when he collected himself, he said “So, that means I’m ruining your life, hmm?”

“I guess so. In completely a good way of course.” Looking at Sykkuno’s face on the screen gave Corpse the confidence to continue talking. He knew the older streamer would never judge him.

“Seriously, Sykkuno. Meeting you and the others has really changed my life. I feel so comfortable around you all. Especially you.”

Sykkuno’s eyes softened. “You too, Corpse. You know I love playing with you. And just talking to you in general, too.”

The words made Corpse do something he never thought he’d do so soon. He turned his camera on. 

Sykkuno wasn't looking at the screen right away but when he refocused his attention, he glanced at Corpse’s face for maybe half a second before letting out a small screech and covering his eyes.

“Oh my god Corpse! Was that an accident? I’m so sorry, I didn’t get a good look, I swear!”

Corpse chuckled nervously. “It’s okay Sykkuno, I did it on purpose. You can look.”

Showing Sykkuno his face meant a lot to Corpse. Showing it to anyone was a huge deal. But the reason he was nervous wasn’t because of exposing himself, no. Showing Sykkuno felt so easy, like the easiest decision in the world. No, the part he was nervous about was what Sykkuno thought of him. 

Sykkuno slowly peeked his eyes open and slowly took in Corpse’s face. He didn’t speak for a long time, just allowing his eyes to explore the parts of Corpse’s face, and his face as a whole.

“Wow. Corpse, you’re _beautiful_ ,” he spoke, awestruck. Corpse’s heart jumped in his chest and he couldn’t contain his grin.

Sykkuno’s facial expression turned to a bit like embarrassment, and he said “Uh… handsome. I mean handsome.”

People generally thought he was handsome but just having to hide his face made Corpse feel self-conscious about it. Sykkuno’s words definitely eased his insecurities ten times over.

“Thanks, Sykkuno,” he said, smile on his face AND in his voice. Sykkuno had called him beautiful. And even when after he kind of changed it to handsome, Corpse knew that the other streamer had only been saying it out of embarrassment, so Corpse was still happy. 

“Of course! And now I guess we’re at a new level of friendship,” Sykkuno rubbed the back of his neck.

Yeah. Right. _Friendship._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! I've got one more chapter planned! I hope you liked this one! Please kudos and comment if you liked it! I loved reading all the comments last time :) Also thanks for the response on the last one!


	3. Sayin' that they know him when they only know his @ though

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE! I'm so sorry it's been so long. I was so busy with school, new classes, and I kinda needed to take time for other stuff. But now we're back with a new chapter and I'm expanding the story! It's gonna be 4 now (if i dont end up changing it AGAIN) and I think it'll take way less time now. Anyways, as always, the chapter title is a lyric/lyric adaptation from Corpse's song E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE! Check it out :D
> 
> alsoooo i dont think anyone will want to but im gonna but my twitter here just in case anyone might want to be friends and chat or just follow for whatever reason lol. i post kinda random fun stuff but i am always looking for new people to talk to so i'm there if you want to talk about anything! twitter: jualietnoromeo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification: I used something that did happen in a stream as inspiration for this chapter, BUT this chapter isn't based off of that scene. This chapter is like if that argument happened again, but it's a separate and MADE-UP scenario. Enjoy <3

Today had been another one of  _ those _ days. Sykkuno had been joking around, or as he called it, “memeing”, around too much in the Among Us games that day and some of the other streamers had gotten actually mad and started yelling at him. They voted him out, even though he was innocent, and when Corpse, feeling incredibly bad, said “Sorry, Sykkuno. Just so you know, I skipped,” one of the other streamers had even responded “Don’t apologize Corpse, it’s his own damn fault, he should know not to play around so much.” Then the next round, Sykkuno had been killed first as a revenge kill, and then promptly declared the very next game as his last game. 

Corpse had taken it upon himself to be Sykkuno’s bodyguard for the last game. Sykkuno had been uncharacteristically quiet that whole time, only responding to Corpse’s questions and statements with soft affirmations or questioning noises. 

Corpse wasn’t streaming, and even though it was against the rules, stream-sniped Sykkuno at the next voting session, thinking that the feelings and emotions of his um,  _ friend _ were more important than keeping the integrity of the game. He was sad to see that Sykkuno had turned his camera off, and was not saying anything. 

He felt even worse when he saw what the chat was saying about him.

Half of the chat was saying things along the lines of “You deserved it,” or “You’re being such a baby,” or “If you’re gonna meme like that you have to face the consequences.” Meanwhile, the other half was saying “Aw babe don’t be sad,” or “Sykkuno is so precious, stop being mean to my baby,” or “Do the other streamers not realize that Sykkuno is sensitive and probably crying right now,” and finally, “THE OTHER STREAMERS ARE SO FUCKING RUDE LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO SYKKUNO.”

Corpse lowkey agreed with the last one (shh). But he felt sad reading the messages, because some of the chat was actually dissing Sykkuno and being straight-up assholes. And the rest were totally babying him, like dude, he's a grown-ass man! Sure there were some nice comments, but the mean ones always stand out more. To Corpse, at least. Corpse was lucky that almost his whole fandom was super supportive and kind, as far as he knew at least.

He cleared Sykkuno, and Sykkuno whispered out a “Corpse is clear too,” before muting again and not speaking for the rest of the session. The next round, they were killed in a double-kill and as soon as the impostors won the game, Sykkuno managed a small “Goodbye,” before immediately disconnecting from the game and the discord.

After everyone left, Corpse texted Sykkuno and asked if he wanted to call, which hadn’t been an uncommon occurrence after that one day when Corpse had revealed his face. Corpse often kept a mask or an eye patch on, but he usually had at least some part of his face showing, except when his anxiety was really bad. But somehow, talking to Sykkuno made it a lot better. 

**_Corpse_ **

Hey Sykkuno, can we facetime?

**_Sykkuno_ **

Hey Corpse! I would love to but I’m not feeling well right now. Maybe tomorrow morning? 

**_Corpse_ **

I kinda got that feeling. I’m sorry some of the other streamers were acting like that :(

Maybe I could make you feel better though?

Oh shit that sounds really sus 

I’m sorry I meant that in a normal clean way

**_Sykkuno_ **

Lol Corpse

I’ll take you up on that

So with a grin, Corpse called. When Sykkuno answered the facetime, Corpse could see that his eyes were red like he’d been crying.

“Um, hi Corpse.”

“Hey Sykkuno.” This was supposed to be a serious conversation but when Sykkuno was involved, he sometimes had trouble being clear-minded. So Corpse said, “Uh, which way did you want to take me up on?”

He could hear the smile in his own voice, and it only brightened when Sykkuno’s eyes widened and he brought a hand over his mouth, coughing quickly.

“Corpse! I, um,” Sykkuno gasped, “Corpse, what do you  _ mean _ ?”

“I’m just kidding,” (was he really though) Corpse chuckled, slowly calming down. “Um, anyways, I called ‘cause I wanted to ask… Sykkuno, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Corpse. Thanks for- I just really don’t want to bother you with this,” Sykkuno sighed. 

“Sykkuno please, you can tell me anything. You never and  _ could _ never bother me. We’re… we’re friends.” Oh yes, that definitely pained Corpse to say. 

“Okay, thanks Corpse. You’re right. I trust you.” Sykkuno took a deep breath before starting. “It’s just… I was only playing around, you know? I was just trying to have some fun, make the chat laugh a little, have a good time for the amigops, right?” Sykkuno’s voice, despite having started out kinda shaky, was quickly hardening and his facial expression changed to more of a scowl. 

“But, that clearly didn’t work out, because two of my best friends started yelling at me, half of my chat started to get annoyed and angry at me, and the other chat just started fucking babying me.”

Wow that was a lot for Corpse to unpack. Not only because his friend, or well, his  _ something _ , was clearly going through a hard time, but because he also just  _ cursed _ for the first time that Corpse had heard and he was already sure that it was the hottest thing he’d ever heard in his  _ life. _

“Corpse?”

Oh shit. Corpse didn’t realize that he had been zoning out for perhaps the better part of 30 seconds, mind still completely stuck on one insignificant but also somehow most important word to exist.

Corpse blinked back to the present. “Oh wow, Sykkuno. That really sucks, I’m sorry. For the record, I thought your memeing was funny. And I thought the others were being assholes. And it sucks that chat was being like that too. Thinking that they know you  _ at all _ , and have the right to tell you what to do or how to act when they really know nothing about you, isn’t cool.”

“Yeah, it’s just,” Sykkuno let out a frustrated groan. “Yeah. I don’t even know what to say.” 

“Well, um, if you don’t know what to say, maybe try screaming it?” Corpse suggested quietly. 

He watched as Sykkuno’s eyes widened on the screen. 

Sykkuno let out a brief, tired chuckle. “Corpse, is this just your way to get me to scream?”

Corpse cringed. “No, no, I swear. I mean, yes, I do want to hear you scream. But no, that’s not the reason I suggested it. I just, I know that makes me feel a lot better. So maybe it’ll help you too.”

“Mm, okay,” Sykkuno’s eyes softened and he smiled a little. “I’m not so sure my neighbors will appreciate this, but, let’s give it a go.”

Sykkuno seemed a little timid, so his first attempt was kind of just like an “ahhhhhh” sound. It wasn’t unsurprising though, I mean, screaming had kinda become a big deal between the two so now that it was happening, it didn’t feel quite… natural.

Sykkuno laughed nervously, wringing his hands together before he took a deep breath and seemed to compose himself.

And then he started to yell. “Ah!!!!! I’m so fucking done with all the disrespect! Everyone needs to realize that I’m a fucking HUMAN BEING! I have feelings! And I’m also an adult, not a fucking BABY! I don’t need to be protected, but I need to be treated with BASIC. HUMAN. DECENCY!” 

Fuck. Corpse’s breath hitched and his heart started beating twice its normal pace. It wasn’t the most impressive scream (well, more like  _ shout _ ) he had ever heard, not the loudest or the roughest. But it was by far the sexiest. Corpse was glad his camera was off and he was muted, because he didn’t trust himself to speak right now. No thoughts, head empty. Or more like inappropriate thoughts, head Sykkuno.

Bur once Sykkuno had calmed down and his breathing had slowed, he looked at Corpse’s discord avatar expectantly. “Wow, Corpse, that actually did make me feel better. Did you like it?”

“Yeah.” Corpse slowly unmuted and turned his camera on for the first time that night. Sykkuno’s eyes widened and a blush spread across his face after seeing Corpse’s mussed up hair, looking like it had been torn through, and the half of his wrecked facial expression that wasn’t covered by a mask. 

Look, Corpse hadn’t done anything inappropriate while hearing Sykkuno say all of those  _ ungentlemanly _ things, but he still wanted to show Sykkuno how it made him feel. Which in hindsight may have been a bad idea if Sykkuno still considered them only  _ friends _ , but whatever.

“Yeah, Sykkuno. I liked- it was good.” It was almost embarrassing how his voice cracked on the “yeah”, but seeing how it made Sykkuno’s eyes crinkle and his hand raise to cover his mouth, it was worth it. And it again made Corpse question the duality of this man. How was he so fucking hot one second and then only two seconds later, so cute? Impossible.

“Thanks,” Sykkuno laughed. “Well, you finally got to hear me scream!”

Corpse chuckled. “Yeah, I did. Thanks for letting me hear it. And I’m glad it made you feel better.”

“Well, to be honest, I think it was more the  _ being-with-you _ part that made me feel better. The screaming helped, but you always make me feel better,” Sykkuno said shyly. 

A wide smile spread across Corpse’s face and he almost wanted to coo, but he’d already revealed his feelings enough that day, so maybe not.

“I like being with you too, Sykkuno,” he said, grinning softly. He turned his camera off again so he wouldn’t have to control his feeling-revealing facial expressions.

Sykkuno looked down for a few seconds, not able to face the camera. He looked embarrassed, so unsurprisingly, he changed the subject. “Wow, imagine if chat heard that. It would completely ruin their image of me being an innocent, stupid baby.”

“If chat heard that, I think they’d be impressed. Don’t worry about what they think. They only ever see you on the screen, it makes sense that they kinda see you as a 2D character because that’s all they know. Everyone who matters knows you’re multi-dimensional. It’s like… chat’s in the movie theatre, super confused, but  _ we’re _ the ones who have the 3D glasses, so in the end, we’re gonna be the only ones who can give a true review of the movie.”

“So, um, I guess that means I’m the movie right?” Sykkuno asked, embarrassed, but also kind of… flirtily?!

“Hell yeah, baby boy, all eyes are on you,” Corpse smirked.

Shit shit shit. No, Corpse that was way too far! He hadn’t meant to say the ‘baby boy’, it just slipped out! 

He was about to do some damage control and take it back, but then- 

“Corpse!” Sykkuno had a look of complete surprise on his face, mixed with a little laughter and a little blush.

“Oh sorry, that was inconsiderate of me, especially because we were just talking about how you don’t want to be babied…” Corpse sighed, sounding regretful. He was, because no matter the truth behind the statement, he never wanted to make the older streamer uncomfortable.

Sykkuno had a panicked look on his face as he rushed to say “No, no Corpse, it’s okay! I just don’t like when chat does it, because like you said, they don’t know me! Um, it’s okay for you to do it though. You don’t have to. But um, just so you know.”

For the nth time today, a wide smile spread across Corpse’s face and a giddy feeling spread throughout his body.

“Okay, good to know,  _ baby boy _ .” 

Sykkuno let out a small squeak and the sound made it feel like a whole butterfly conservatory had just been released in Corpse's stomach. God, he was just like a high schooler with a giant-ass crush again. Pathetic. But honestly, he wouldn’t trade the feeling for anything else, especially when so many of his days were filled with so much pain.

“Really breaking it in, huh?” Sykkuno laughed, a hand over his mouth, the other fidgeting with his hair.

“Yeah, guess so,” Corpse chuckled, slowly morphing into a yawn, and it was only then that he realized how tired he was.

“Oh Corpse, you sound tired, you should go to bed,” Sykkuno advised.

“You feeling okay now? I’m not leaving until you’re happy again,” Corpse declared, the firmness of the statement softened by the beginnings of sleep.

“Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Corpse. For tonight, and for all of the nights.”

“Of course, Sykkuno. Have a good night,” he murmured drowsily.

“Night, Corpse.”

“Sleep well, baby boy.”

_ Click. End call. _

The night went differently for each man. One didn’t sleep a wink, tossing and turning, going over every last second of the call in his head.

For the other, sleep came as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

Because, well,  _ progress. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eeee sorry it took so long but i hope you enjoyed! i'm proud of this one butttttt it wasnt beta read for now so im gonna have to go back and edit later, hopefully its not totally sucky and typo-filled and stuff now. also wow this one was long! yay!!! i hope you are all doing well by the way!
> 
> and i said this in the chapter summary so sorry if it annoys you to see this again butttt if anyone wants to follow my twitter, to either become friends and chat about anything, or just for some other reason, my twitter is @jualietnoromeo !!


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